Buddies are traumatized when a man on the air mattress looks them in the face before disappearing into the lake

The young men said they did everything in their power to rescue the man who was floating on an air mattress – but he disappeared underwater and has still not been found

Video is loading

Video not available

The video will start playing automatically soon8thCancel

Play Now

Thurmaston: Teams search Watermead Park for a missing man

Two friends are traumatized after desperately trying to rescue a man who disappeared into a lake on an air mattress.

Ryan Hornby, 22, and George Lee, 21, say the man looked them “dead in the eye” and called for help as he struggled to stay afloat on the hottest day of the year.

The couple saw the air mattress “float further and further” in the middle of the lake.

The man then jumped into the water and began swimming back after realizing how far out he was.

But he began to struggle, and George and Ryan watched helplessly.

Speak with LeicestershireLive, Ryan said: “We were just on the edge of the shallow part of the lake trying to see how cold it was. There was another group near us and one of them got on the air mattress on the water and just floated away.

“He went under and came up again screaming for help.”

The friends tried going into the lake themselves to help him, but could not wade through the mud and found there was nothing else they could do.

“He looked us straight in the eye and yelled for help,” Ryan said.

But moments later the man was nowhere to be seen.

“He just disappeared under the water,” George said. The 21-year-old said they helped as much as they could.

“There wasn’t much we could do — it was horrible because he was screaming, but nobody could do anything about it,” she added. “We tried to go further, but we didn’t know how deep it was going to get.”

The horror took place at Mammoth Lake in Watermead Park in Leicester on Friday 17th June

The young men alerted the emergency services and search and rescue teams arrived – Leicestershire Police and Fire Brigade have since been searching the area.

In an update Sunday night, the force said it was still treating the operation very much as a missing person investigation.

“He just disappeared under the water,” George said, adding that they helped as best they could.

“There wasn’t much we could do — it was horrible because he was screaming, but nobody could do anything about it,” she added.

“We tried to go further, but we didn’t know how deep it was going to get.”

Ryan said they tried to search for the man but he was “nowhere to be seen”. “It was awful,” he added. “We didn’t get away from it, we’re traumatized. I had to take a few days off.”

Police continued their search for the man in Watermead Park today, using search and rescue boats and drones. Mammoth Lake is the largest body of water in the park and was formerly part of a quarry.

Detective Superintendent Michelle Keen said on Sunday: “We are treating this as a missing person inquiry and are continuing to search both the lake and Watermead Park itself to try to locate the man. Unfortunately, a coordinated search involving multiple agencies – as well as a specialized police tracing adviser (POLSA) – has so far failed to result in him being found.

“We are now working closely with specialists to identify the next steps in locating the missing man. We have officials who are in touch with the man’s family and are supporting them at this troubling time.

“While speaking to a number of people who were at Watermead Park I would still ask anyone who was in the area on Friday night but has not yet spoken to police.”

Anyone who was at the park at the time and has information relevant to the inquiry is asked to contact Leicestershire Police as a matter of urgency by calling 101 and quoting incident 612 of June 17 .